#but they're the new chip zdarsky ones.... so

[zahri-melitor]

Some more coherent thoughts about Gotham War, now it's settled on me.

(Spoilers below cut, for length and as it's still only Wednesday)

It's not a huge surprise, but Selina's whole 'train henches to steal from the rich non-violently!' ended up being a complete side issue that only existed to get the plot moving. Nobody's conception of this plot, in two years time, will really include this detail, despite the thousands of words spent arguing how ridiculous it was.

Yes it remains a poorly thought out plan on Selina's part (she's never heard of earning money legally) but the narrative also frames it as long term ineffective from the very first issue and knocks it down on multiple occasions.

DC editorial definitely tried to dress this up as a full family event, but realistically it was a Bruce, Selina and Jason event, written by their three current writers, with solid bit parts played by Tim and Dick.

Vandal Savage remains ridiculous and ready to sacrifice anyone and I appreciate that about him. As a villain he was just the right level of stakes for this event.

I enjoyed getting to see Scandal, even if her fans would say she got done dirty here. Scandal usually has enough sense not to believe anything Vandal says, and I admit I was somewhat waiting for some level of twist here as to why Scandal was all for immortality at this point in time, but it never came.

I still agree it felt a lot like three separate plotlines intersecting, but I think they managed to land the event successfully (while leaving some nice loose threads). I actually appreciate they didn't overreach in their goals.

It still finished out with two separate plotlines: Bruce and Selina and Jason; and Dick and Tim and the rest of the family. Structurally this again reminded me as much of Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul as Batman #138 did; the main plot and then the far more interesting Dick & Tim sideplot which is what I go back to reread. (Chip Zdarsky is clearly also a fan)

Also promisingly for an event yes, it did actually shake up the status quo and push the participants off in new directions.

So Bruce is now doing the Loner Batman thing (in that he's locked out of the fam computers/comm lines), Selina is officially 'dead' (what is with all these fake dead people with titles, Penguin is too right now), and Jason has what's effectively permanent fear toxin response to stressful situations. Also, apparently, we are getting Dick and Barbara back 'running' the Batfam while Bruce is on the outs.

As far as Bruce goes, what has been really notable in this event is how much Chip Zdarsky loves early 2000s Bat comics and their dynamics, and particularly Joker's Last Laugh. There's a lot of structural things about how this event was shaped, what specific characters did, and emotional beats that feel very JLL as someone who's read it at least half a dozen times. It's not the only influence, but it's a pretty prominent one.

Bruce ending the event in a position where he's effectively not working with most of the other Bats actually tracks reasonably well over to Batman & Robin, to my surprise. It makes sense that it's just Bruce and Damian and they're focusing on homelife and domestic relationship details between the two. It gives Bruce an excuse for why he's closely focused on Damian there.

I will admit I have not been reading Catwoman, but from the event it seems they're spinning her off to keep moving her back into a more antihero position. Tini Howard clearly has a direction she wants to take Selina.

I actually think this has pretty interesting storytelling potential for Jason. It means that he has to stay calm, or has to overcome his own fear to achieve things. It gives him a goal? Matthew Rosenberg clearly seems interested in using it for his Jason storytelling and he's got Jason right now, so...

I'm personally delighted by how much Tim Zdarsky wrote into this storyline. He used the space more to show off Dick and Tim's brotherhood and what Tim is good at, rather than push the Tim side of the Zur story we're all expecting to occur (there's that waiting Zur-Robin costume). Means he's planning it for Batman as a title itself rather than getting it tangled up here.

"It was the only way to become the second-best Robin". Yes, this is Tim getting to show off his core competencies - he probably is the only Bat other than Bruce who would have extensively studied all the trophies. Dick would remember a lot of them simply because a lot of the trophies are from old adventures, but pretty much all the others are not particularly retrospective, respect the past sort of members of the group, while Tim has always been surrounded by the shadows of the past. I loved this note.

I haven't talked about Babs yet! She's in green, in glasses, sitting down at her computers with a novelty mug, directing everyone, answering to Oracle. That's her! That's my Oracle!

I do think Bruce expecting Dick to take over running the Batfam right now is a big ask, given he's also running the Titans as the main superhero team on the planet and handling Bludhaven, but Tom Taylor's writing both those books so I don't expect to see the stress catching up with Dick there. Benefits of writer choice right now, I guess. Also personally 'Babs and Dick organise everyone while Bruce has a breakdown elsewhere' is one of my favourite Batfam dynamics so you know, I'm pretty excited if we actually get to see this play out.

New Lazarus Pit in Gotham! This won't be a problem at all.

#z canon read throughs #gotham war #gotham war spoilers #tuesday spoilers #newish comics

[novakiart]

Best spider man comic?

oh!! I'm going to stick to self-contained comics that you can just hop right into

i loooove the amazing spider-man annual #1 (2018) by saladin ahmed. the take on peter & venom's relationship (told through venom's pov) is really really good

peter parker: the spectacular spider-man #310 (2017) by chip zdarsky has been recommended a lot and for good reason!! strong emphasis on peter's relationship with average new yorkers (and vice versa). will make you feel feelings

spine-tingling spider-man #1-8 (2021-22) also by saladin ahmed is a great little self-contained story for spooky season!!! it's a marvel unlimited exclusive rn but physical copies are set to come out soon and a sequel is in the works!!! i love juan ferreyra's traditional art so much too

deadpool annual #2 (2014) by christopher hastings. ok I'm cheating because it's a deadpool story BUT it deals with peter's anxiety and spidey senses going rampantly out of control because he's 1) convinced random new yorkers are chameleon and therefore are out to get him and 2) he has not gotten any sleep because of this. deadpool as the voice of reason is pretty fun. it's just a lighthearted little one-off plot (bros keep bros secret identities safe)

mary jane & black cat: beyond #1 (2022) by jed mackay is also another cheat but you should read it anyway (don't let the bad cover dissuade you). peter is unconscious in the hospital and attracting unwanted attention because he's suspiciously got both mj and black cat looking after him, and their resulting team up dynamic is really fun! mackay's standalone black cat stuff is pretty great too

are these, like, the best spider-man's 60+ yr run has to offer? probably not! but they're fun little stories if you're dipping your toes into the comics

#listen. I read the comics pretty sporadically so please understand that my recs are going to reflect that #so I'm probably not The Best person to ask #but i appreciate it nonetheless and i hope you enjoy these (assuming you haven't already read them!!) #i know these are fairly modern comics but do not think that means i like the current run because i Do Not. #mags answers #anon #comic recs #spider-man

[cairoscene]

went like a not insignificant distance into your blog because I can feel the batfamily consuming me and eating my heart and so on. haven’t ever read or watched or played batman however. as I trust your opinions Where do you suggest I start

omg welcome. i have recently been afflicted with something similar so i do have recs!! in terms of canon — which i will say i have middling opinions about, and i'll admit that i haven't really read any comics older than the 90s — i'll recommend the comics that really got me In Trouble: Batman: The Knight (2021). 10 issues by Chip Zdarsky and Carmine Di Giandomenico. this remains my batman holy grail. it's about bruce's journey to becoming batman and focuses on pivotal experiences in his education. it also features my favorite hot sexy murderous ex husband, minhkhoa khan. also, and most importantly, has some of the best written bruce and alfred interactions that i've read.

Nightwing (2016) #78—. by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. idk this was one of the first ones i read and i just really enjoy the punchy art and the action and the dialogue. from my understanding from #78 onward, the issues are trying to maybe breathe more life and color into nightwing's stories, and for me it works. it's just super fun and cute and i love dick grayson.

Dark Knights of Steel (2021). another Tom Taylor, this time with Yasmin Putri. idk if you told me a year ago that i would be into reading a DC fantasy AU where superman is a prince and batman is his loyal guard i would have laughed in your face. but it's really very fun and the art is excellent. i have quibbles about the worldbuilding, but the robins make it worth it. the robins feature and they are delightful. excellent brainworm material overall. it's still ongoing and i'm not sure how many issues are planned.

Batman/Superman: World's Finest (2022). this one's by Mark Waid and !!! Dan Mora (whose art i cannot stress enough makes me cry) and it's set to be 10 issues, there's one more coming in december. it's got great sort of vintagey vibes and is just really really fun, featuring dick grayson robin who i would run into a burning building for.

for batman proper i'll say i've been kind of cherrypicking issues to read, but i read a good long run of Batman (2016) starting with #102 because, you guessed it, it's the introduction of minhkhoa khan, aka the ghost-maker. i also enjoyed the Fear State saga (#112-117), but most recently i've been very into the recent issues by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez starting with #125, which sets up a conflict between batman and failsafe—an AI bruce himself created in case he ever needed to be taken down. so far the failsafe saga has given me:

bruce badly beaten and bleeding <3

the whole family banding together to try to stop failsafe

batman zur-en-arrh, which is like, if batman fell into a bucket of colorful paint

so, so many tim drake feelings

just to name a few.

PHEW so for non-comic media, i recommend:

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures. a webcomic from Webtoon by CRC Payne and Starbite. new episodes every week and they're FREE and they focus on slice-of-life family stuff and some character-centric episodes, which is all i've ever wanted really. this was the first batman thing i read, which kicked me off into looking into canon more, resulting in this hilarious set of messages to my friend spanning probably no more than a few hours:

for movies, i don't tend to vibe with the characterization of bruce (and damian. and dick. and talia..) but i enjoyed Batman: Bad Blood (2016) and Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010). also Please Watch The Lego Batman Movie. seriously it's really good and fun

for video games, i've only played Batman: Arkham Knight (2015) out of the legendary series of games by Rocksteady. but man is it A Game (admiring). i also do have a lot of fun playing Gotham Knights (2022) because it's focused on the kids in the batfamily, but i will admit that it sure is A Game (derogatory).

jesus this is getting long. in terms of fic, i would probably have to make a separate post for all of the fic that's lit my brain on fire but you can check out my fic rec tag here on tumbo and my public bookmarks on AO3 for some of my favorites. i also highly endorse all of the fics in @vinelark 's batfam fic rec thread on twitter.

thanks for this opportunity to gush incoherently and i hope this helps <3

#i actually forgot what my ask tag is #asks answered #? #i think that's it #anyway thank you sorry and omg hi! #batman #long post

[daresplaining]

Foggy: "You know, don't you? It's why you came." Butch: "I do. That's not Matt Murdock in that casket...it's Mike. His brother. My best friend." Foggy: "I'm...well, #@$%. I'm sorry. Matt told me you and Mike were childhood friends." Butch: "None of this is right. Mike deserves a funeral. Not this sham. People mourning his do-gooder brother who never had a moment for him. Tell me, Nelson...Mike was pretending to be Matt as a favor. 'Cause the Golden Boy was in rehab out of town. So why isn't he here now? And why can't my men find him? This whole thing stinks. I'll keep this quiet, 'cause if Matt Murdock set Mike up, I'm going to find him...and what my father did to Mike is going to look like a scraped knee compared to what I'm going to do to him." Devil’s Reign: Omega, “Fall and Rise” by Chip Zdarsky, Rafael de LaTorre, Federico Blee, and Clayton Cowles

Butch, like almost everyone and everything associated with Mike in this run so far, has suffered from a shortage of narrative attention and development, so I wasn't hugely compelled by him as a character before...but man, this scene made me love him. As with Matt, we have had to wait for Mike to die to get a full sense of how the people around him feel about him-- and the answer is that apparently, both Matt and Butch are willing to kill for him. It's heartwarming!

But speaking of Matt...

Matthew Michael "When-In-Doubt-Fake-Your-Death" Murdock has a long, infamous history of pulling this type of stunt. In fact, his very first faked death was that of his dear made-up twin brother, back in Daredevil volume 1 #41. Over the decades, this has become a reliable last-ditch solution/escape hatch for Matt when he is backed into a corner or feels unable to cope with whatever giant mess is currently being made of his life. However, this newest variation on the theme is the most ghoulish yet. Using his murdered twin's corpse as a body-double and co-opting Mike's funeral as his own is crossing some disturbing new lines for Matt, and this issue is equipped with characters who are willing to point that out.

Matt: "Matt Murdock is dead. It's better this way. For what we have to do." Luke: "And what exactly is that? Your brother is dead, man. It isn't fair to his friends to not get the chance to mourn him." Matt: "My brother...didn't have friends. He had people he owed money to. I'll mourn him. I'll avenge him one day, even. But for now, we're...Elektra and I..." Elektra: "We're going to destroy the Hand." Devil’s Reign: Omega, “Fall and Rise” by Chip Zdarsky, Rafael de LaTorre, Federico Blee, and Clayton Cowles

Hey, check this out! Obviously, the circumstances are different, but I wouldn't be me if I wasn't pointing out Mike Murdock Saga parallels:

Foggy: "Matt! He was your own brother! He died defending us! Have you nothing to say? Can't you even put down that blasted braille law book for a minute?" Matt: "Sorry, Foggy! It's too late for tears...and we still have work to do!" Karen: "Matt, I never thought you could be...so cold-blooded!" Matt (thinking): "If they ever suspected that they're mourning for someone who never even existed--!" Daredevil vol. 1 #42 by Stan Lee, Gene Colan, Dan Adkins, and Sam Rosen

This man has always been fundamentally incapable of even pretending to care about Mike, and I think that's beautiful.

Of course, in this new reality in which Mike did exist, Matt's cold indifference would be infuriating and, frankly, horrifying...had the previous issue not revolved around him going ballistic with grief over losing his brother. With that vital context, it is clear that we can't take Matt's comments in this issue at face value, and that he is most likely deflecting in the above scene. Even the other dialogue in this issue itself demonstrates that he isn't being honest ("Matt told me [Butch] and Mike were childhood friends"; owing money aside, Matt knows that his brother did have at least one friend). While it is not necessary for writers to spell everything out when it comes to character motivations, I do appreciate the effort that was taken in this issue, given the lack of prior development of Matt and Mike's relationship, to clarify what is going on with Matt here.

Luke: "...We're just worried. You lost your brother. Escaping into 'Daredevil' isn't the way to deal with that." Matt: "I...I know you're just looking out for me, Luke. I appreciate it. But you have to believe me-- after prison, after Fisk...my mind feels clearer than it has in a long time. I have a way forward, to help the most people, and--"

Historically, Matt has exhibited two major reactions to tremendous pain, loss, and hardship: stubborn, impulsive, single-minded action, and extreme avoidance. We saw the former in Devil's Reign #6 when he tried to murder the Kingpin. Now we are seeing the latter: "I'm completely fine, don't worry about me. Also, I'm leaving. Bye." Back when Matt was in prison, earlier in the run, Elektra offered him the chance to go punch ninjas a very long way away from New York, and he rejected it. But now, suddenly, he loves that idea! It's important, it's necessary-- for the safety of the world, of course-- for him to run off right now and fling himself into a dangerous, all-consuming battle with the Hand. And he will deal with the Mike stuff-- "mourn him. Avenge him one day, even"-- later.

In other words, it seems as though Matt is shoving his emotions way down and using Daredevil for one of that identity's most important purposes: escapism. This is him buying a one-way train ticket north in Nocenti's run, hopping on a bus to New Mexico after "Shadowland". Matt has just lost one of the few family members he had left, a family member who essentially died in his stead, with whom he-- as Butch mentions, and as I've bemoaned in the past-- never actually took the time to reconcile, and he is running away from having to cope with that. And it is very single-minded escapism, not fully taking into account the people around him, which is typical Matt behavior in these kinds of situations. Foggy, Elektra, Luke, Danny, and others know what's really going on, but notably, Kirsten does not. In a classic Matt Murdock move, he has decided he would rather let her think he is dead than tell her the truth about his being Daredevil and her memories having been altered...which is another emotional minefield that he is avoiding by leaving town.

The new #1 comes out in July, kicking off this creative team's second volume (Daredevil volume 7) and sending Matt and Elektra off to their confrontation with the Hand. It will be interesting to see how (or if) the effects of grief impact this new story arc-- not just for Matt, but also for Butch, Kirsten, and maybe even Foggy, who was the reason Mike was pretending to be Matt in the first place. One key way this could possibly carry over is if Matt toys with the idea of using Hand/Chaste techniques to bring Mike back to life...unaware that Kirsten may have already beaten him to it...

#Devil's Reign #Daredevil #Matt Murdock #Mike Murdock #Butch Pharris #Foggy Nelson #Luke Cage #Iron Fist #Danny Rand #Elektra Natchios #Mike Murdockalypse #Commentary #ID in alt text

[ewzzy]

I haven't made a real list, but since I spend all my time reading comics here's a top ten for 2022. (no particular order) First up is Kyle Starks' I Hate This Place. Kyle is always the best and a couple inheriting a farm only to find out it's haunted by ghosts/aliens/demons/cyptids/everything is a great hook.

Next up is the new Amazing Spider-Man series that brings back writer Zeb Wells and artist John Romita Jr. They're two of the best to ever do Spider-Man and as they tend to do they drag him through the mud along the way.

Adjacent to Spider-Man is Jed Mackay doing more Black Cat stories. He's writing the Moon Knight, Black Cat, and Dr Strange series and has proven to be one of the best and most prolific writers in the Marvel bullpen. Here's a bit from Mary Jane & Black Cat: Beyond.

Too bad for Jed but this was the year Chip Zdarsky hit homer after home with so many great series. Daredevil, Stillwater, Public Domain, and two Batman series that are all comic of the year level. It's been crazy watching the comedy guy known for Sex Criminals become the most prized writer at the big two. Nobody but Chip gets to write Batman and work for Marvel at the same time.

I've been going on and on about writers but the recent Poison Ivy series is all about artist Marcio Takara. I normally wouldn't give a series like this a chance but it's a beautiful horror comic where a lot of folks get torn apart by fungal spores.

I also wouldn't have touched a Harley Quinn series but Riley Rossmo's art will get me to read anything. He just started a new Robin series where Tim Drake is living in a boat house and working as a private eye. So far so good!

I don't care about the Eternals or Avengers and keeping up with the X-Men is exhausting but the A.X.E. Judgement Day event was great. Basically the superheroes create a new god and it decides to judge everyone on earth individually. If it does the math and we're mostly bad the earth goes bye bye. Captain America is the first to get a thumbs down and everyone collectively goes "oh so we're fucked right?" Then when the Eternals wake up some old war machines one reads the whole internet and becomes the secret admirer of a single human writer.

As I said X-Men is exhausting, but it was worth it to get all the jokes in X-Men '92 House of XCII which retells the last few years of X-Men comics as if they were adapted to the 90s cartoon.

A much clearer X-Men comic was Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird. He was the first X-Man to die for the cause and now that mutants can be resurrected he's back and not sure he wants to be a part of it anymore. It's co-written by trans native-american pro wrestler Nyla Rose and I was expecting very little but it's great.

Guess this is my last one. I have been shocked by how good the Punisher: King of Killers series is. Writer Jason Aaron and artists Jeus Saiz & Paul Azaceta bounce between two art styles & times. The present where Frank Castle is worshipped as history's greatest killer by ninja assassin cult, The Hand, and the past where we discover he first killed at age 10 and how his family dying was never what made him the Punisher. It's also an allegory about how The Punisher isn't cool and you shouldn't like him and anyone who would use his skull logo unironically is dumb.

Sorry TMNT Armageddon Game, One-Star Squadron, Superman The Warworld Saga, X-Terminators, My Bad, Billionaire Island: Cult of Dogs, World's Finest, and everyone else from this year but I've run out of time and space. Look forward to Spider-Man/X-Men Dark Web on next year's list alongside both of Ryan North's new comics Secret Invasion and Fantastic Four.

#comics #comic books #spider-man #x-men #punisher #batman #poison ivy #harley quinn #black cat #I hate this place

[aroreanimator]

just spent over $70 on comics what the fuck am i doing

#but they're the new chip zdarsky ones.... so #mine #aroace #jughead jones #i was gonna buy jughead's time police but then it would have been over 100 #so like. nah

[fantastic-nonsense]

So the theory abt what the Tim thing Belen Ortega was working on was pretty much right! Its a one-shot rather than a mini tho

Yep! Though I really do think that after the oneshot (which is being collected along with Tim's coming out story & aftermath from UL #4-6/10 we'll get a proper mini and/or ongoing. It seems like they're using Tim's two Pride stories to finish exploring and telling Tim's coming out and journey of self-discovery, and then afterwards they'll move on and give him new stories to work with; we're already seeing hints of that with the announcement that Meghan Fitzmartin is writing the Dark Crisis: Young Justice tie-in mini.

Excepting Chip Zdarsky, who will get to write Tim in upcoming Batman issues, it looks like Meghan is still firmly at the wheel of Tim's story, and I doubt she's going to be a "one-and-one" writer for Tim given the public and fan response to that story. So I think we'll see an announcement for a Tim Drake mini/ongoing somewhere around June or July, when we'll start to see what the DCU looks like in the aftermath of Dark Crisis.

#tim drake #asks #dc comics #meghan fitzmartin

[redjaybathood]

Okay so the issue 6 has good and bad. But tumblr didn't let me save a post with good stuff included so here is it, only bad

[Jason: "I'm giving up the guns. Yeah, I've been using Rubber bullets lately, but... none of it feels okay now." Bruce: "Jason... I'm glad. It's the right..." Jason: "I actually don't want to hear it, Bruce. This isn't me doing it for you. I think some people should die. And those people... I still want to hurt them, Bruce. I just don't want to hurt anyone else. And death has a way of rippling out to others. That's all. I'm just figuring out some new ways."] If Zdarsky made Jason say something like "you were right, Bruce" I would have flipped the table. All in all, this makes sense in a story where he shoots a guy and also knows his kid - and is faced with the need to actually tell that kid that his father isn't coming back. And that's where we go to the bad stuff: - First 4 issues nerfed Jason and made him OOC: getting erratic, aggressive towards drug users instead of drug dealers; being completely unable to the track drug manufacturer in Gotham without Bruce's help (that's why I loved issue 5 so much, it gave us the regular Jason back); killing by accident and not by intention. It's all makes sense in the end, because this whole story supports one simple idea: "Killing people takes a toll on the victim's family (Tyler) and on the killer (Jason)". On Tyler, he was made an orphan not unlike Jason himself was. That's an obvious consequence, even if Jason killed his dad intentionally, it would be still the same. On Jason, him being used to killing in the past + getting triggered/dissociating under the stress lead to him accidentally killing the guy he wanted but didn't plan to kill. But the thing is, it kinda... not true? It's plausible but not supported by the previously established canon. He never killed anyone he didn't intend to kill before, he never had the same reaction to drug deals that was shown in Cheer. Even at his most villainous, he has never killed by accident. Whereas plenty of people in Batfam who didn't intend to kill, and never did that before, had done so. Or Batman, for example, he is very against killing and yet the only thing that stood between him killing Cheer was Jason. He was on drugs, yes, but that's the thing; there's plenty of reasons you could be driven to kill someone and that's not necessarily past experience with murder. Look, I get what Chip Zdarsky was trying to do. Doesn't mean I like it. It would have been a more effective story, and more true to Jason's previously established character, if he killed Tyler's dad intentionally, and still realized that consequences he disregarded before (Tyler) are not worth it to him anymore. But he just wanted to tell another story, bring some focus to Jason's mental state? Which, if it was a story from before New52, alright, sure. It doesn't ring true anymore though. I also really don't like his "bad Robin" flashbacks and him saying "I still want to hurt them" - like, the point of Red Hood was never about hurting, it was about stopping. It's similar but different. - Jason leaving guns behind. Doesn't make sense, even if Zdarsky addresses it by Jason saying: I used rubber bullets for a while, but still it doesn't feel right. Well, what doesn't? If he used rubber bullets for a while, what's the difference? Is it supposed to signify that Jason is traumatized by killing someone? Jason? Ok, whatever, they want him to use All-Caste's Soul Swords I guess. It's cool but there doesn't have to be a deep reason for it. He can just change to swords because the challenges he faces in the future are better handled with them: like a horde of zombies. - Fan reaction to the conclusion of the story. All the Batfamily feels, all the "he stopped using the guns, it's a win!". First, Jason isn't back with Batfam. Them having his back? I'm pretty sure they're there for Bruce. And Bruce? Whose drug-induced happiness is him killing the Joker and accepting Jason back into the fold? Very bullshit. If he wanted to, he would have already invited Jason to a fucking family dinner. And he has no right to give or take away Jason's uniform with a red bat. Excuse me, did he

copyrighted that logo? I don't think so. It's not his fucking city, god. Why don't you go ban Joker from Gotham, Bruce! Yeah, didn't think so. In short: batfam feels, what fucking batfam feels? wake the fuck up, guys. Second. Leaving the guns behind? He's not doing it because he's healed, or whatever you guys are excited about. He just realized he has a problem. The issue with this is, the problem was specifically created so he could leave the guns behind. Get me? - Symbolism. Jason realizing he can't save Bruce without a Batsuit, him finding the suit too heavy and thus failing to save Bruce anyway, and ofc not actually being able to save Bruce without the rest of the gang showing up. That's just no. Tl;dr: Cheer would be a good story outside of continuity. Especially if Jason's detective skills weren't nerfed, and his aggressiveness wasn't exaggerated in the first issues.

#batman urban legends #jason todd #reading comics

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of August 28th, 2019

Best of this Week: Spider-Man Life Story #6: The ‘10s - Chip Zdarsky, Mark Bagley, Drew Hennessy, Frank D’Armata and Travis Lanham

All good things must come to an end. That’s the main theme of this final issue of Chip Zdarsky and Mark Bagley’s phenomenal Life Story miniseries as it recounts the last adventure that Spider-Man goes on as he leaves the world free and safe in the capable hands of the new generation of superheroes.

Comic books are cyclical. For some heroes, you get a short run, 6-12 issues and then they disappear for years until they’re needed again for some big event. For the bigger heroes, there are ongoing series that last years upon years with some BIG changes that inevitably get reversed for the sake of reestablishing the status quo. It’s understandable, recognizable names draw big money, but there’s only so many times you can see a hero fight a particular villain before it becomes trite and meaningless.

The same goes for their daily lives as well. Peter Parker has been stuck as a meandering young adult for the better part of a decade since the events of One More Day and he hasn’t been allowed to grow past his immaturity, save for the few times when the situations have become desperate and dire. Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows tried to posit a family man Peter Parker in an alternate universe, but for the most part he came off as just regular Peter with a kid to banter off of. Nick Spencer and Tom Taylor are doing their best in their respective Spider-Man series to get Spider-Man back to a position where things actively change for him, but Chip Zdarsky has gone the extra mile.

The Spider-Man Life Story miniseries goes through Peter’s life if he actually aged with the decades that all of his comics took place in. He goes through the struggles of being an American citizen straddling the fence during Vietnam, the aftermath boiling to a superhuman civil war, a better Clone Saga of the 90s, Aunt May’s death, the start of the information age and finally having children and watching them grow up. Peter Parker is allowed to grow old, change with the times. He sees old friends die, new heroes emerge, give his take on current events of the time and it’s all been amazing.

I know I mentioned that fighting the same villains over and over can seem trite and meaningless, but that’s only when they’re done for the sake of being done. In this fantastic take on the Superior Spider-Man story, Peter and Otto have their absolute final confrontation with one another over the body and soul of the young Miles Morales. Peter and Miles are shot into space to stop some sort of satellite created by Doctor Doom that allowed him to fill the power vacuum left by Captain America and Iron Man’s Civil War. As the two explore, Peter is attacked by Kraven wearing the Venom symbiote, but he dispatches the villain easily and it’s revealed that the suit was just piloting a are skeleton.

Miles questions how it was possible and Peter replies that all of his old enemies are dead and rightfully accuses Miles of being Otto Octavius, Doctor Octopus. Otto reveals his scheme, but instead of fighting Pete physically, he chooses instead to go into the mindscape and have a battle of the intellect as they were always destined to do. 

Bagey pulls out all of his stops as he draws Spider-Man costumes from the various decades as well as beautifully illustrates some of the best of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery as they battle for supremacy. Set against a white background, the characters shine with their vibrant colors, dynamic posing and Bagley’s ever amazing facial expressions. I have never seen Otto look so menacingly mad and subsequently, once Peter defeats him, absolutely crushed. 

Using the only person that Peter knew Otto cared about, Aunt May, she’s able to convince Otto to let go of his hatred and rage. She tells him to let Miles live his life, to move on. I really felt this and inside, it feels like Zdarsky is also telling us that sometimes we have to let the status quo go. Spider-Man has been around for longer than some of us have been alive and will be long after most of us are gone. Do we really want him to be the same mid-20s to early 30s hero that we knew, or do we want to spend our time with someone new? Miles Morales is a little more than ten years old, he’s fairly young as a character and I wholeheartedly believe that he can carry on the Spider-Man name on his own.

As the satellite starts to collapse and there’s only one escape pod left, Peter chooses to save Miles and sacrifice himself so that the future can flourish in peace due to his heroism. It’s a true heroes death and something that we almost never see (and likely never will), but if this were a true moment of closure, then I would be happy with it. Peter Parker is known for having more guilt than a Catholic who hasn’t been to Mass for a month (or Daredevil) and as he finally closes his eyes for the final time, he has a nice conversation with Mary Jane and recounts his recurring dream of the day he truly learned about power and responsibility. The last panel is his guilt finally being washed away.

If there is one series I would recommend anyone read, hands down, without a doubt it would be this one. Chip Zdarsky has a strange yet beautiful understanding of how to tell a story with characters that some of us know better than our own family members. Mark Bagley has the art skills to make us care about them immensely as well. Putting these two together as well as their amazing inker in Andrew Hennessy and colorist in Frank D’Armata, they sell you on each decade presented and how Peter changes throughout. 

Spider-Man isn’t the same plucky youth we met in the 1960s. By the end of his story, he’s led a full life full of adventure and his time has been well spent making sure that it was a future worth living in. Isn’t that something that we all can only dream of?

---------------------------------------------------

God is Here.

Runner Up: Absolute Carnage #2 - Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Frank Martin and Clayton Cowles

After the events of the last issue there aren’t enough words to describe just how hopeless things are looking for anyone who has ever worn a symbiote.

Spider-Man and venom have been backed into a corner by Carnage and his horde of infected inmates at the Ravencroft Asylum. With no other options Eddie decides it best to break out and punches a hole through the wall for a tactical retreat. Eddie is typically known for his ability to brute force his way through any problem, but Carnage is a new monster altogether and as he sees Spider-Man running out of energy, he gives into the fear that they might die.

In the past, the combined might of Spider-Man and Venom has been more than enough to combat Cletus Kasady. Even when Cletus had help, he still couldn't hold a candle to the heroes, but now, they're almost low tier by comparison.

Spider-Man notes that he's almost out of web fluid, so there's no way that they're swinging out of there, so Eddie and the Symbiote utilize one of their badass upgrades, spreads his wings and flies out of Ravencroft with Peter screaming frantically "WHATISGOINGONRIGHTNOWIHATEALLOFIT!" They then land on a roof in the city, defeated and horrified that they may not be able to stop Carnage this time.

Spider-Man says that he'll try to get a hold of Wolverine and Captain America and Eddie says that he'll go find any of the lowlifes that have been Symbiotes and the two split to complete their missions. Carnage chooses not to follow after them, instead he waits and plots. This issue then turns into a bit of a catch up game for the other tie in issues while Carnage gloats to Norman that everything is running smoothly and that the world will be painted red soon enough.

Ryan Stegman absolutely smashes the art in this issue with absolutely killer detail, expressions of fear and disgusting visuals, especially in Carnage's underground lair - The sprawling mass of symbiotic flesh that covers New York's sewage system, packed full of infected humans is a dreadful sight. In the beginning of the issue, Stegman drew a splash page of Carnage with other panels overlaid, showing one of his eyes of madness and the decayed flesh that's absolutely under the symbiote. It's an absolutely terrifying sight that set the tone of this horror show.

Not only were these shots great, but Stegman kills one of the moments that happens in the Miles Morales tie-in where Miles and Scorpion (Mac Gargan) fight off the infected hordes trying to take Gargan's spine. In the tie-in, the art is more subdued and less violent, but here, Stegman turns it into something to get squeamish over. Gargan tries to abandon Miles to fight the infected alone, but is thrown back into the fight by Venom.

Unfortunately, Carnage is there waiting to pounce. He plunges a tendril into Mac's back and DIGS around to get that spine. There's no need to leave anything to the imagination as the blood spurts out, Gargan screams in agony and Kasady looks like he's having the goddamned time of his life. Mayer and Martin's colors and inks really sell just how violent all of this is. It's almost gross just how close they get the color right and how dark the scene is. Miles swoops in to save him, but… no good deed goes unpunished.

Absolute Carnage absolutely does what it set out to do. I have never been more afraid for the Marvel Universe than I am right now. Of course, there have been universal threats, but with how close and personal this feels and the looming feeling of dread knowing that Knull is THIS close to returning is mortifying. Normally a villain will just kill a hero or destroy them and whatnot, but Carnage wants nothing but massacre. If there's not torture and blood then what is it all worth?

Everything that Cates and Stegman have been building to has lead us here. To say that it's beginning to lay off would be an understatement. The dividends of fear are fore more exponential than anyone could have anticipated and this will likely go down as one of the greatest Venom/Carnage stories ever written. Absolute High Recommend.

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